Online retailers have started to publish 18- and 24-month contract deals for the HTC Desire HD and Desire Z smart phones, with SIMs from O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange all available.

For the Desire HD they're all much of a muchness: you get the phone free if you pay from £35 or £40 per month on 18- or 24-month contracts. You can find deals for as low as £15 a month, but that would mean a typical £250-plus upfront.

With the Qwerty-sporting HTC Desire Z, deals are only marginally cheaper, even though it's a less powerful phone. Again, you can get the Z from free on £35 to £40 per month contracts, and £15 to £20 contracts are also available if you want to pay a thumping great wodge of cash up front, albeit generally less than the HD.

Importantly, these are phone plus SIM deals from various independent
retailers -- they're buying the phone and adding a contract SIM from a
network. They're not direct from the network themselves, so you won't be
able to upgrade this way, at least until the networks announce
availability.

Comparing to other phones isn't an exact science, but at first glance, the HTC Desire HD deals are cheaper than what the BlackBerry Torch and iPhone 4 are being offered for, and on a par with deals for the Nokia N8, on both pricing and the range of networks offering it. Sound about right to you?

Update: A previous version of this article didn't make it clear that the deals on offer are from various online retailers and not from the networks themselves, so won't be compatible with existing contracts for your upgrades.